2. Fashion/clothing for R&B music videos
• In R&B music videos the men are mostly topless (for example Trey Songz) is usually in very little clothing, this is because a lot of
male artists in that industry, target audience are teenage girls and being topless appears to be very sexy and eye-catching towards
them. also if the artist is wearing a certain brand they will do close-ups to advertise that particular item more, because if celebrities
have it other people will definitely want to buy it.
• Most R &B artists have tattoo a majority of them have tattoo on their chest or arms ( i.e. Chris Brown has tattoos on his neck, arms
and chest.)
• Males in music videos wear subtle jewellery like a watch, chain or earring. Where has in hip hop videos they wear lots of jewellery.
• Women in R &B videos usually have little clothing on and their stomachs are on show, this is because they want to draw attention
to the younger male audience, also to male fans they are meant to be seen as objects of desire, and the showing flesh and cleaverage
sells more albums. Also to show some women power bold colour lip stick power some women wear bold lipstick. For female artists
their hair is always styled in a very dramatic and eye catching way. Their makeup is also very bold and artistic, especially their eyes
they are always have dark coloured eye shadows with golds or silvers which makes their eyes very alluring.
•With the male artists they usually have a woman or women with them dancing sexily who they are singing too.
•With female artists they also have a man in the video that generally are topless in the videos. This is because R and B song are
generally about relationships. Another thing is they use expensive cars and items in the videos.
•Sunglasses is a prop that is used a lot along with a lot of jewellery (bling) this connotes that they have a lot of money and wealthy.
•A lot of close ups of the artist lip singing
••Locations are of places in sunny destinations (the beach is a popular place, along with clubs and bars.)
•Some R&B artists use special effects to create a unusual dynamic background with lots of colours like the black eyed peas video
‘Boom Boom Pow’
•The performance of the videos is generally the artist being stationary lip singing or often they use tracking shots to follow them
walking, this enforces the idea that the audience is actually there.
• R&B females wear high heels to elongate their legs beauces oft the fact that they're wearing little clothing. However in some
videos artists wears trainers in their video for choreographed scenes like dance routines.
3. Fast R&B music videos
• These videos consist of bright colours, flashy cars, jewellery almost like a party scene, and involves a lot
of choreography. Also they're the only one videos that are depict R&B males in a wealthy light and
females in a powerful light. The typical conventions involve being a club, champagne, artificial lighting
and women wearing minimal clothing(usually in short dresses and glamorous makeup and heels). These
videos portray the stars as fun and loving people, also very social able.
• Another thing is the male artists mostly wear sunglasses indoors to convey a sense of coolness, which
their target markets will find very appealing and eye catching. These props like expensive bottles of
alcohol helps advertise these items.
• Fast tempo songs by females involved bright colours, but it not about being in the club like the way the
male depict themselves, also a lot are done in a studio because there are lots of special effects especially
in the background(for example Rihanna in her video `rude boy’).The clothes she's wearing in the video
are very revealing with high heels to make her legs look longer. Bright makeup to stand out more but it is
not strong eye makeup it is usually very strong lip colours (like red or bright pink).Videos like this do not
tend to follow a narrative but have a lot of creditable effects and involve a male dancer/dancers because
there is a lot of choreography, and also portray the musicians in powerful light although there is not a
total gender switch up, they still seem more powerful than they do in video for love songs.
4. A lot of videos are done in a studio because there are lots of
special effects especially in the background, this is because
they want a certain place or location to be in the background
to match the tempo and beat of the songs and what's going on
in their videos.
For example ‘Tinashe-Pretend’ uses special effects in her
video to make the background a sun set place on a beach to
make it match the slow start of the song, and also has her
hair blowing like its in wind as if she was actually there.
5. Slow R&B videos
• Majority of R&B slow songs are filmed in black and white/greyscale toned backgrounds or are very colourful. I think
this is because they want the colours to be very soft to show more emotion because dark colours over look the point
of the video and too much colour distracts the video to much.
E.g.-Trey Songz-Can`t be friends
White and black background balance out these videos because it makes the video more interesting to watch, also
sometimes it can depict a sense of power instead of showing softness.
Slow R&B videos also usually follow a narrative which means having a co-star alongside them(another artist).
They don`t wear a lot of jewellery because hip hop videos do that, and although they are wealthy they don`t want to
over do it. This is why they use a lot of close-ups on their bodies and abs, also it is a convention which is very
common in R&B `slow jamz.’
In slow songs(slow jamz) there are a lot of close-up kissing and touching of the artist and other actor/actress in the
video. However this is convention is found is mostly sexual songs but especially in male artists that talk a lot about
sex.
Slow jamz that are about being in love and breaking up, doesn't have as much nudity. These kind of songs are mostly
done by females, also they mostly wear minimal clothes that will depict them in the same light as goddesses. The
clothes will be bright and colourful to show their happiness if the song is about love and being joyful. Whereas if it is
about a breakup the videos will use a greyscale or black and white filter to show, how upset the artist is.(the emotion
they show).and their clothing will be very dark to hide mystery.
A lot of nude coloured/natural makeup is used in these videos, this is because the female artists don`t want to draw
too much attention away from the main point of the videos. Also to convey the sense of natural beauty because
there a lot of close-ups to the females faces and there don't heavy makeup on.
6. • Some females don’t fall behind this sexual content as they are seen in very revealing
clothing and dancing very sexually to attract the opposite sex. Their music videos are
very easy to be seen through the they eyes of a male as we tend to watch the video as
if we were seeing through them. however females do sometimes show themselves a
different light by acting more in control and being more covered up. For example Ciara-like
a boy, in his video she is covered up and acting like a typical boy. This music video
for "Like a Boy". It was shot in late January, over a three-day period.
• The black and white video begins with Ciara dressed like a boy sitting in a chair. She is
sporting painted on tattoos and says Ladies, I think it's time to switch roles." Next,
Ciara confronts her boyfriend played by football player Reggie Bush throughout the
video. During the first verse and chorus, Ciara dances with her male alter ego. The rest
of the video, Ciara and female dancers, who are all dressed in more masculine styles,
perform masculine choreography. there is a breakdown and Ciara performs.
• This video is gender stereotyping and some females will depict themselves like how
males do in their videos. Usually to convey a message to their audience ,like Ciara
does famously in this video. Another common thing she/other females do this in their
videos through there costumes/outfits and performance (e.g. baggy tracksuit bottoms,
trainers and hats.)
• She has the macho posturing down and this works for her.
